Infinite Culcleasure arrested twice, went to prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine

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Updated: 12:26 AM EST Dec 8, 2017

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WEBVTT REPORTER: I SAT DOWN WITHINFINITE PLEASURE AND HIS HOMEIN BURLINGTON.WE TALKED ABOUT HIS CRIMINALRECORD AND WHAT THIS MEANS FORHIS CAMPAIGN.I DID NOT COME WITH THE DRUGSIN MY POCKET.I CAME HERE WITH NOTHING.REPORTER HOURS AFTERWARD WEHEARD INFINITE CLERK PLEASURESPEAKING AT THE CAUCUS, COURTDOCUMENTS WERE SENT TO OURNEWSROOM.THEN 18 YEARS OLD GOING BY HISBIRTH NAME, PERCY, WAS LISTED INA DRUG BUST CASE.>> DID EVENTUALLY COMPROMISEDMY INTEGRITY, TO MAKE MONEY,BECAUSE I THOUGHT I NEEDED TO DOTHAT TO SURVIVE.REPORTER: NOW 44 YEARS UPCOMINGHE TELLS ME HAS PASSED ISHELPING TO SHAPE HIS POLITICALPLATFORM.>> I C RELATE TO THE PEOPLEWHO ARE STRUGGLING IN OURCOMMUNIT MORE SO THAN ANY OFTHE OTHER CANDIDATES IN THISRACE.REPORTER: IN THE EARLY 1990'S,HE SERVED TWO AND A HALF YEARSBEHIND BARS.IN 1999, HE WAS LOCKED UP AGAIN,THIS TIME FOR THREE AND A HALFYEARS AND PENNSYLVANIA.IN BOTH CASES, IT WAS FORCONSPIRACY TO DISTRIBUTECOCAINE.>> ONE OF THE EARLIESTEXPERIENCES FOR WAS THATSTRANGERS WOULD COME UP FOR MEAND ASK FOR DRUGS.IF I KNEW WHERE THEY COULD FINDDRUGS.OVER AND OVER AGAIN, IT WAS ONEOF THOSE THINGS WHERE YOU KINDOF STA TO SEE IT AS ANOPPORTUNITY.REPORTER TODAY, HE SEES ANOPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A CHANGE INTHE CITY THAT GAVE HIM A SECONDCHANCE.WIN, LOSE, OR DRUG -- DRAW,IT HELPS THEM REALIZE JUSTBECAUSE YOU HAVE A FELONY,DOESN'T MEAN YOU NEED TO STAY INTHE BACKGROUND AND KEEP YOURHEAD DOWN.IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE SOMETHINGTO OFFER.REPORTER: HE TELLS ME HE LEARNEDA LOT IN PRISON.HE SAYS A GAVE HIM HIS NAME.INFINITE.HE SAID HE DID NOT TAKE IT BUT,"IT WAS BESTOWED ON HIM BYFELLOW INMATES WHILE HE WASSERVING HIS FIRST SENTENCE."HE SAYS THEY SAW SOMETHING

Burlington mayoral candidate opens up on prison sentences

Infinite Culcleasure arrested twice, went to prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine

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"I didn't come here with drugs in my pocket -- I came here with nothing, actually,” said Culcleasure, who spoke with NBC5’s Renée Wunderlich in his Old North End home. "I did eventually compromise my integrity to make money because I felt like I had to do that to survive.”

Now 44 years old, the candidate said his past is helping to shape his political platform.

"I can relate to the people who are struggling in our community more so than any of the other candidates in this race,” he said.

In the early 1990s, he served 2 1/2 years behind bars in New York.

Culcleasure was locked up again in 1999, this time for 3 1/2 years in Pennsylvania. In both cases, it was for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

"One of the earliest experiences for me was that strangers would come up to me and ask for drugs. Or if I knew where I could find drugs. Over and over again,” he said. “And you kind of start to see it as an opportunity."

Today, he sees an opportunity to make a change in the city that gave him a second chance.

“You know, win, lose or draw, what it does for people is I hope it helps them realize that you know, just because you have a felony, doesn't mean you need to stay in the background and keep your head down if you think you have something to offer,” he said.

Culcleasure said he learned a lot from prison. The experience even gave him his name: "Infinite."

He didn't choose the name -- rather, it was, “bestowed upon him” by fellow inmates during his first sentence.

Culcleasure legally changed his name from "Percy" to "Infinite," when he was 21.

“It was just aspirational. And so, it’s kind of a hard thing to live up to, you know what I mean?” he said. “My capacity’s not infinite … but, you know, I aspire to it.”

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BELOW IS A STATEMENT BY THE INFINITE CULCLEASURE CAMPAIGN SENT AHEAD OF THURSDAY NIGHT’S BROADCAST:

Statement on Transformation and Redemption:

I am running for mayor because Burlington is a community that not only believes in accountability, but also in the possibility of transformation and the power of redemption, of hope and of giving people a second chance.

I was eleven years old the first time I was taken into police custody in Brooklyn, because I share the same skin color with a man who had robbed a local store. When I moved to Vermont at 18, I learned that like New York and other cities, Burlington has limited opportunities for people without privilege - Black, white or otherwise.

As a young man of color, to be approached for drugs in Burlington is a common experience. It’s often the case that some of us do wind up internalizing this identity that’s imposed on us. That’s what happened to me.

Burlington, and Vermont, is a lot of different things. And one of the things that brought me back was that I didn't lose my right to vote. A lot of people with felony convictions don’t realize that, because society wants to disempower us even after we’ve paid our debts to society.

Some people think there is something inspiring about my story… because it is a story about transformation and redemption in an oppressive racist culture.